Patricia Mullins

Patricia was born in 1939 in Cork City. One year she went on holiday to visit her brothers in London. She sailed on the Innisfallen from Cork Harbour to Pembrokeshire. She liked it so much when she came to England that she decided she wasn’t going back and opted to stay with her aunt.

She started working in Cork as a trainee bookkeeper, she earned £1 2s 6d and always gave the pound to her mother. Later Patricia found a better paid job as an assistant in a hardware shop.

When she came to England she lived in Chalk Farm Road in Camden and after she decided to stay found a job straight away at the Co-op in the linen department.

Her next job was working as cashier with the English furniture manufacturers Waring & Gillow in Oxford Street where she earned £9 a week. To increase her income she moved to the Montague Burtons on Regent Street which was one of the largest chains of clothing retailers.

Patricia lived in Blandford Street, Westminster in a HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) run by the nuns from The Sisters of Charity. Women from Spain, Greece and Italy also resided there and they were provided with breakfast and an evening meal.

In 1965 Patricia was married and the couple moved to Holloway. Her husband was a pump engineer at Paddington. They lived in a flat and soon had two sons living with them, so decided to move the family to Luton in 1972 in order to get a house.

In Luton Patricia found a job working in retail again for Burton, this time in George Street, soon afterwards she moved to another company on the same road called Button Brothers and worked in the cash office.

Later she worked at the Luton Dance Centre as a trainee teacher teaching Latin, Ballroom and Disco. She describes her time in this role as the most exciting time of my life.

Patricia was involved in the foundation of Luton’s Credit Union which was launched on St Patrick’s Day in 1998. She has been a volunteer for the Credit Union for fourteen years and has undertaken three years of training.

She is happy that she came to England and decided to stay: “I came, I had no problems. I just melted in, integrated. I thought I am here in England now. I am earning a living. I was so lucky, I had brothers here. It was home from home”.

Patricia Mullins

Patricia was born in 1939 in Cork City. One year she went on holiday to visit her brothers in London. She sailed on the Innisfallen from Cork Harbour to Pembrokeshire. She liked it so much when she came to England that she decided she wasn’t going back and opted to stay with her aunt.

She started working in Cork as a trainee bookkeeper, she earned £1 2s 6d and always gave the pound to her mother. Later Patricia found a better paid job as an assistant in a hardware shop.

When she came to England she lived in Chalk Farm Road in Camden and after she decided to stay found a job straight away at the Co-op in the linen department.

Her next job was working as cashier with the English furniture manufacturers Waring & Gillow in Oxford Street where she earned £9 a week. To increase her income she moved to the Montague Burtons on Regent Street which was one of the largest chains of clothing retailers.

Patricia lived in Blandford Street, Westminster in a HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) run by the nuns from The Sisters of Charity. Women from Spain, Greece and Italy also resided there and they were provided with breakfast and an evening meal.

In 1965 Patricia was married and the couple moved to Holloway. Her husband was a pump engineer at Paddington. They lived in a flat and soon had two sons living with them, so decided to move the family to Luton in 1972 in order to get a house.

In Luton Patricia found a job working in retail again for Burton, this time in George Street, soon afterwards she moved to another company on the same road called Button Brothers and worked in the cash office.

Later she worked at the Luton Dance Centre as a trainee teacher teaching Latin, Ballroom and Disco. She describes her time in this role as the most exciting time of my life.

Patricia was involved in the foundation of Luton’s Credit Union which was launched on St Patrick’s Day in 1998. She has been a volunteer for the Credit Union for fourteen years and has undertaken three years of training.

She is happy that she came to England and decided to stay: “I came, I had no problems. I just melted in, integrated. I thought I am here in England now. I am earning a living. I was so lucky, I had brothers here. It was home from home”.